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[Cost-effectiveness of peridural and intravenous analgesic schemes]
1Institut für Forschung in der Operativen Medizin (IFOM), Private Universität Witten/Herdecke gGmbH.
Abstract:
Compared to patient controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) peridural analgesia is considered as more effective but more expensive for the treatment of postoperative pain after major abdominal surgery. The aim of the analysis was to assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and to relate the cost to time (per 1 day) and pain reduction (per 1 step on a pain scale). Systematic literature research on Medline and the Cochrane library were conducted. Clinical data were primary extracted from randomized controlled trials. Labour costs and costs for material and drugs were generated from a multicentre evaluation of DGAI and DGSS. The cumulative weighted mean difference for 4.5 days of therapy was 63.33 mm on a VAS in favour of the PDA. The overall costs of the PDA amounted to 305.35 euro and of the PCIA to 137.74 euro. The incremental costs came to 26.48 euro per day and one unit of pain reduction.
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